For the longest time, people believed that dogs are loyal and loving towards humans just because humans provide them with shelter, food, and safety.
The people who believe this argue that it’s all about survival, and the bond has nothing to do with emotions or empathy. But recent studies have proven otherwise.
This research demonstrates that dogs are responsive to human emotions and hormones, and even changes in their facial expressions. After comparing the sensitivity of pets to the absence of sensitivity found in pack dogs, researchers have concluded that human socialization has evolutionarily shaped the behaviors of pets.
One study from 2020 analyzed dogs’ responses to humans laughing or crying. The results showed that dogs had more behaviors directed towards the people who were crying than towards the ones laughing. This suggests that they could have a mechanism that triggers empathy-like behaviors. It is known that dogs don’t have what is known as “theory of mind”, meaning they can’t put themselves in humans’ shoes. Thus, they can’t experience empathy in the same way humans can. But this study shows that the bond between parent and pet deepens over time, meaning that their attentive behaviors aren’t just automatic responses. They are more similar with compassion.
Research shows that cortisol, the stress hormone, is released by dogs when they see their parent in distress. And oxytocin, or the “love hormone”, is released when dogs are physically close to humans. This has been proved to happen only when a dog has been socialized in human environments.
All this research proves that the bond between humans and dogs is much more than a simple surviving instinct on the latter’s part. It’s based on emotions and closeness.